


Confiding

by Espereth



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Community: asscreedkinkmeme, Gen, Implied or Off-stage Rape/Non-con, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Sexual Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-04
Updated: 2013-07-04
Packaged: 2017-12-17 15:51:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/869267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Espereth/pseuds/Espereth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set during Brotherhood. One of Ezio's recruits confides to him that she was raped by Borgia guards.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Confiding

Ezio was planning missions when the novice Annetta Abete began to hover near him, fidgeting. She wanted to speak with him, but was too awkward to say so. 

"Good evening, little sister," said Ezio. He was busy and tired, but he didn't let his irritation show. 

"Good evening, Maestro." She bowed and pressed her hands to her chest, then stood awkwardly before him, too shy to speak.

She was a quiet one, sixteen or seventeen perhaps, with dark curls and worried brown eyes. She said little, kept to herself, and trained extraordinarily hard. Her hard work showed well in her skill and speed - she was advancing fast, and had done some good work in Roma. He had no hesitation summoning her when he needed to. But there was a slump to her shoulders, a hesitation in her demeanour, a certain timidity that held him back from promoting her, much less sending her abroad. He suspected that was the reason for her visit tonight.

"I believe you have come to ask me why you are still _Recluta_ , Annetta," he said with a wry look. "Is that the way of it?"

"Maestro, I do not question your judgement," she said.

"Don't you?" He smiled. "There is no disrespect in a question. I should have met with you sooner, to talk with you about this. But I have had so much to oversee. I can not always give you apprentices the time you deserve."

"Maestro, my rank does not concern me," Annetta assured him. "It is not for status that I fight. But - Maestro, with respect - If you never let me outside of Roma, I cannot gain the experience that my brothers have," she said. "Whatever it is that I am not doing, I will never be able to do it." Then she flushed, looking terrified, as though she'd spoken too freely.

"That's so," Ezio said, and thought for a moment, stroking his beard. He moved pointers on his map. Then he looked up at her and grinned playfully. "Do you want to go to Paris?"

Her eyes gleamed briefly with intrigue, but she hesitated. "Alone, Ser Ezio?"

"Of course not. I will send you with Severino and Bianca. They will take good care of you, and teach you some things besides. Come back to me in the morning - I will give the three of you your orders. You will leave when we receive word from Machiavelli's contact there. It could be days, or a week - so stay ready to leave."

"Yes, Maestro," she said, and bowed. "Thank you, Ser Ezio. I will not disappoint you." She turned to go. 

That slump in her shoulders again! It bothered him to see one of his _Assassini_ looking like a frightened mouse. To look at the girl, one would think she had been demoted, not sent on a mission to Paris. At first Ezio had thought the girl merely shy, but he was now sure something else was afoot. Perhaps now was as good a time as any to work out what it was. 

"Something troubles you, Annetta," he said, and she froze. "Come back and sit down, if you like." 

"But you must be busy, Ser Ezio." Her voice wavered and he saw that she was terrified. 

"What is this, Annetta? Sit down." He stopped his work and put his papers away. 

Put like that, as a direct order, she could not refuse. Her eyes looked panicked. She sat next to him, perched on the couch like a cat ready to escape. 

"Explain to me what bothers you, _Recluta_ ," Ezio said bluntly. "It is affecting your work, and thus, the Brotherhood."

"The tower of Pietro da Siena stands near our house," she said, fidgeting with her fingernails. She would not look at him. "Weeks ago, before I came to the Brotherhood, my younger brother and some boys from our neighbourhood made a plan. At night, they would take my grandfather's old crossbow and attack a guard post outside the tower." 

She looked at her feet, then back at her hands. Now that she had started, the words came out in a flood. Ezio listened.

"I followed my brother when he left the house. He would not have let me go with them, but I wanted to fight the Borgia, too. I hid in a doorway while the boys climbed onto the roof of a tailor's shop and prepared to shoot at the guard post. I do not think my brother planned very far ahead, for the crossbow was in disrepair. It did not fire, but it made a loud sound, and soon the whole street was swarming with guards. My brother and his friends ran, and got away. I stayed where I was. But the guards kept searching the streets."

Annetta had begun to shake. Ezio could already see where her story was going, but instinct told him it was important for her to finish it. He touched her shoulder and murmured for her to continue.

"Two of them found me, and pulled me out of my hiding place. They said that good women are at home at night, waiting on their husbands, and that any woman walking the streets at night must be a whore. And so - " She shuddered. "There wasn't any use in screaming. What would that have done? Brought more guards." Her eyes were hard and dry as stone. "Some other guards came by. One of the men, I recognised. The captain. Pietro da Siena." She spat out his name. "I thought they were going to kill me. I do not remember how long it went on, or how I got home." 

No wonder she had been so lacking in confidence - to be carrying this around. Ezio thought of Caterina, of how she had fought beside him at Forlì, and of the passionate night they had shared. All the fire in her had been burned away, after what Cesare Borgia had done to her. Ezio did not know if she would ever recover from it. And his own mother - all those years of silence. His chest felt tight with rage. 

Annetta Abete snuck a look at him, and shrank away, shame in her eyes. He realised that his fists were clenched and he had allowed his anger to show on his face. He forced himself to soften his expression. 

"I am not angry with you, Annetta," he said, and she relaxed, relief flooding her body. "I am angry that Roma is under the control of Cesare Borgia and other _stupratori_." He looked at her. "You are not to blame for this." 

She stared. "I thought - I should not have been -"

"You are not to blame," he said again. He knew something of the methods of war. By raping Caterina, Cesare had been sending a message to Ezio. And his _condottieri_ were sending a message to all the men of Roma. That just like the streets, the taxes and the goods - their women too belonged to the Borgia. 

"Annetta." He made his voice as gentle as he could. "Forgive me, but - since this happened - have you bled?"

"I - yes, Maestro," she said.

"Thank God for that," he said, relieved. 

Annetta nodded. "I too thank God for this. No child should come of such a thing."

Ezio risked an arm around her shoulders. She tensed a little, but then he felt her relaxing under his arm, even leaning against him. She turned her head into his chest, hiding her face, and he knew that she had begun to cry.

"I hate them, Maestro," Annetta said. "I hate them so much. They run our city, they can do anything they want. That is why I came to you. Because you want to free Roma from these Borgia pigs."

"And we will, Annetta." He stroked her hair, keeping his hands light and slow.

Not for the first time he wondered whether he was doing the right thing, allowing women into the Brotherhood as fighters. He remembered Carlotta - the first girl who had begged him to accept her as a recruit. His instinct had been to take her home to her father and tell him to lock her away for her own safety. But she had proven herself to him, and was now _Assassino_. He had to admit that he could not afford to turn anyone away, if they were brave and loyal. He needed all the fighters he could get. Besides, if he refused to accept women, that would not stop them from taking up arms - that much was obvious. Better that they do so with training, and under the banner of the Assassins.

"Listen to me, Annetta," he said, his voice low. He lifted her chin with two gentle fingers, so that she would meet his eyes. "I am going to train you. I will make you far, far more dangerous to a group of guards than they are to you."

She nodded, and sat up, looking stronger already.

"You were right to come to me, Annetta, but make no mistake." He gave his voice just enough of a hint of steel to make her eyes widen. "If you choose to stand beside me, you take a dangerous path. I want to tell you that nobody will ever do this to you again, but I cannot. If ever you are captured, Cesare and his men will do the same, and worse."

"No," she said, her shy dark eyes flashing. "They won't, because I will die upon my own blade before I let them."

He nodded. "Then we are of the same mind." Faced with the prospects that awaited a woman captured, he knew which choice he would make. 

"You will come with me when I take Pietro da Siena's tower," he said. "And _you_ will kill him, and any of his men that you wish. Their lives are yours. I promise you."

Her eyes gleamed at the prospect of revenge, and Ezio allowed a grim smile to creep across his lips. It was true. They were of the same mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted on the Assassin's Creed KinkMeme at http://asscreedkinkmeme.dreamwidth.org/717.html?thread=3526605#cmt3526605


End file.
